8-13-13 Ingram-Hudgins to lead Adventist Church Membership Software Office

By Ansel Oliver, ANN
With additional reporting by Elizabeth Lechleitner

Sherri Ingram-Hudgins, an information technology project manager, was appointed yesterday to serve as director of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Office of Adventist Membership Software.

In her new post, Ingram-Hudgins will oversee the software program chosen by the world church to help local churches keep track of members and offer non-personal data on trends to church statisticians.

Her appointment by the Adventist world church’s Administrative Committee replaces the vacancy left by Andrew Kuntaraf, who passed away in April.

The office is a function of the Adventist Church’s Secretariat.

“She has a passion for mission and is experienced in membership software and implementation,” said Myron Iseminger, Adventist Church undersecretary. “She has the knowledge of both the technical skills and also the needs of church organizations.”

Ingram-Hudgins, a former business owner and corporate programmer, currently serves as a project manager for the Information Technology Services of the denomination’s North American Division.

In her 12 years working in the department, she has overseen the implementation, training and support for the eAdventist Internet-based records program used by 59 conferences in the division. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from what is now known as Washington Adventist University. Last year she also launched a mission project – a non-profit organization that provides micro grants to homeless individuals.

“I’m humbled by this opportunity and look forward to continuing the work that Andrew started,” Ingram-Hudgins said of her appointment yesterday.

“The long-range goal is to enable the worldwide church to have even more accurate and reliable statistics regarding the church body as a whole and to help enable better decision-making on retaining members, allocating resources and to aid in the decision-making of administrators,” she said.

The office was created last year to oversee standardized membership accounting software for church use worldwide. The software, now in its pilot implementation stage, is streamlining how the church maintains its membership database.

The software was developed by the denomination’s South American Division and offers multilingual use. Ultimately, church officials want to eliminate duplications and avoid counting inactive or deceased members.

“We’re hoping to provide more divisions and unions the opportunity to benefit from the system,” Iseminger said. “Currently the only option for some administrative units in different parts of the world is to keep membership records on paper.”